From Councillor Wendy Tuckerman

I was delighted to attend the opening of the CSIRO Boorowa Agriculture Research Station last Saturday along with many locals and visitors from across the region. To finally see this project come to fruition is a credit to all involved.

The facilities on site are state of the art, to which the team at the CSIRO are showcasing as a cutting edge and world leading research, development and environmental hub. The station is a catalyst for innovation in agriculture in the digital age with real time on farm sensing, monitoring temperature and humidity, as well as terrasonde soil and moisture sensors.

The director of Agriculture and Food CSIRO Michiel Van Lookeren Campagne told me this research station will be the envy of the world and is perfectly placed to their network of field trial sites in the region. Six permanent staff are on site looking after the day to day activities, as many scientific research and development officers come and go whilst working on projects in crop breeding and genetics, new digital technologies, crop and pasture agronomy, soil fertility and soil improvement, mixed farming systems agronomy (crop-livestock) and longer term ecological studies (soils, weeds, pests).

CSIRO is grateful for the support of investment partner Grain Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) in helping develop the site. The General Manager Nicole Jensen of GRDC was present at the opening and highlighted the importance of the research and development to meet the challenges of agriculture now and into the future.

Boorowa is now well and truly on the world map, at the leading edge of agriculture research and development.

– Councillor Wendy Tuckerman